Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus cargo spacecraft discharged from the International Space Station on Wednesday and will test new technologies before fiercely destroying them when they return to Earth’s atmosphere.
The unmanned vessel arrived at the track laboratory on 5 October 2020 with approximately 8,000 pounds of supplies, research experiments and hardware, including a new toilet. Cygnus pulled off the space station’s Canadarm2 at 10:11 a.m. ET across the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Ecuador. After departing from the ISS, the spacecraft will remain in orbit until January 26 to test new technologies known as SharkSat.
The electronic components of SharkSat are focused on the development of Ka-Band software-defined radio (SRB). According to NASA, Ka-band refers to the frequency of the electromagnetic spectrum on which it operates. “As more applications use this spectrum to communicate, some bandwidths become increasingly crowded,” the space agency explains on its website. “The Ka-Band of the spectrum is currently less crowded and offers data transmission speeds that are hundreds of times faster than the bandwidths currently in use.”
NASA’S NEW SPACE TOIL ON ITS WAY TO INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION
The Cygnus spacecraft shortly after it was disconnected from the International Space Station.
(NASA TV)
“The potential use of the technology includes various types of terrestrial 5G telecommunications, as well as space-to-space and space-to-ground communications,” NASA added.
Cygnus also transports more than 4,000 pounds of debris from the space station. After testing the SharkSat technologies during its two-week orbit around the Earth, NASA explains that Cygnus will “bite through” the garbage and throw it away during the fiery re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, which burns across the Pacific Ocean.
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Before being destroyed, the spacecraft will also conduct a spacecraft fire safety experiment (Saffire) V, designed to investigate the largest flame growth and flammability limits in space.
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